HFG African Fellows

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The Harry Frank Guggenheim African Fellow Awards (formerly the Harry Frank Guggenheim Young African Scholars) recognize emerging African scholars studying aspects of violence on or directly related to the African continent.

Applications for 2025-2026 are open 
Dec. 1, 2024 - March 1, 2025

Every two years, the Foundation selects a cohort of Harry Frank Guggenheim African Fellows.  Approximately a dozen emerging scholars are recognized for projects judged to be of high quality and closely relevant to the Foundation’s interest in violence.

The Foundation welcomes proposals for the African Fellow Awards from any of the social and natural sciences or allied disciplines that promise to increase understanding of the causes, manifestations, and control of violence and aggression. Highest priority is given to research that can increase understanding and amelioration of urgent problems of violence and aggression in the modern world. The proposed project must relate directly to the African continent.

The Foundation is interested in violence related to many subjects, including, but not limited to, the following:

• War
• Crime
• Terrorism
• Family and intimate-partner relationships
• Climate instability and natural resource competition
• Racial, ethnic, and religious conflict
• Political extremism and nationalism

The Foundation supports research that investigates the basic mechanisms in the production of violence, but primacy is given to proposals that make a compelling case for the relevance of potential findings for policies intended to reduce these ills. Likewise, historical research is considered to the extent that it is relevant to a current situation of violence. Examinations of the effects of violence are appropriate for a proposal only if a strong case can be made that these outcomes serve, in turn, as causes of future violence. 

The African Fellow Awards 

Fellowships are offered to individual scholars for a period of two years. The African Fellow Awards include an in-person methods workshop on the African continent, fieldwork research grants of $10,000 each, mentoring from senior African and Africanist scholars, sponsorship at an international conference to present research findings, and editorial and publication assistance through a writing workshop geared to support and prepare scholars to write for and submit to international peer-reviewed journals and other outlets for their research.

Timing

Candidates for the African Fellow Awards may apply online annually between December 1 and March 1. Final decisions are made by the Board of Directors. Applicants will be informed promptly by email of the Board’s decision. The program begins with a research proposal workshop held on the African continent.

Eligibility

Applicants for the fellowship may be citizens of any country. They must be aged 40 or younger, currently enrolled in an accredited Ph.D. program at an African higher-education institution, and living on the continent.

Application

The March 1 application deadline occurs every other year, in accordance with the program application cycle. Applicants must create an account to access the application. The guidelines are also available through the second link below.

Online Application (Login required)

Application Guidelines (PDF)

Advice for Applicants (PDF)

Read more: African Fellows at the African Studies Association UK 2024 Conference.

Recent Recipients

2023–2024

Doyinsola Oluwagbemi Agunbiade (University of Ibadan, Department of Peace, Security and Humanitarian Studies). Impact Assessment of Violent Conflicts on the Democratic Development in Côte d'Ivoire
Benyin Akande (University of Uyo, Department of Political Science & Public Administration). Separatism and Gender Roles: Exploring Women's Involvement in IPOB’s Agitations in Nigeria's South-east Region
Adventino Banjwa (Makerere University, Makerere Institute of Social Research). Contesting the Postcolonial Political Order: A Critical Historical and Political Study on the Federalist Movement in Uganda
Kigambo Gaaki (University of Cape Town, Centre for Film and Media Studies). Mediating Contentious Politics in Hybrid Regimes: Press Coverage of Political Protests in Uganda
Marie-Grace Kagoyire Gasinzigwa (Universiteit Stellenbosch, Department of Psychology). Construction of Genocide Memories: Narratives of Second-generation Rwandans
Yosef Sintayehu Jemberie (Makerere University, Department of Social Studies). The Making of State of Emergency: A Historical Critique of Modern Political Power in Ethiopia
Awet Halefom Kahsay (Addis Ababa University, Institute for Peace and Security Studies). Preventing Inter-Ethnic Conflict through Traditional Institutions: Evidences from North-East Ethiopia
Learnmore Mvundura (University of the Witwatersrand, School of Social Sciences). Debunking Foreigner-Citizen Identity Binaries: Immigrant Women’s Negotiation of Maternal Health Inequities in Johannesburg
Kenechukwu Nwachukwu (Makerere University, Makerere Institute of Social Research). Nigeria’s Unresolved Political History and the Production of Violence Through Historical Narratives: The IPOB Question
Jacob Tagarirofa (University of the Free State, Centre for Gender and Africa). ‘Invisible Objects’ and Everyday Violence in a Post-war Community: A Posthuman Analysis of the Gendered Materialities of Landmines in the North-Eastern Border Area of Zimbabwe

See Full List